The Cultural Iceberg - The United Church of Canada

The Cultural Iceberg
In an iceberg, only about 10% of the iceberg is visible above the waterline.
The majority of the iceberg is hidden beneath the surface.
In 1976, Edward T. Hall suggested that culture was similar to an iceberg.
He proposed that culture has two components and that only about 10%
of culture (external or surface culture) is easily visible; the majority, or 90%,
of culture (internal or deep culture) is hidden below the surface.
External (surface)
culture (10%)
Behaviours
• Explicitly learned
• Conscious
• Easily changeable
• Objective knowledge
Traditions
Customs
Easily observable with touch, taste, smell, sound
Core values
Beliefs
Priorities
Attitudes
Assumptions
Internal (deep)
culture (90%)
Perceptions
Difficult to observe
• Implicitly learned
• Unconscious
• Difficult to change
• Subjective knowledge
When one first enters into another culture, one is usually first interacting only
with the top 10%—literally, the tip of the iceberg! Sometimes, people make assumptions
or develop ideas about another cultural community without really understanding
the internal or deep culture that makes up the majority of that culture’s
values and beliefs. What’s in your cultural iceberg?

The Cultural Iceberg
art
food
dress/clothing
greetings
dance
language
music
Top 10%
world view
gender roles
personal space
authority
concepts of justice
ideas about modesty
cooperation /
competitiveness
religious beliefs
ideas about leadership
body language
designation of status
based on positions (e.g.,
age, gender, job)
concepts of time
friendship
notions of
child-rearing
(and how children
behave in church)
decision-making models
communication
definition of sin
pace of work
dating and courtship practices
power
Bottom 90%